Straw Boys and Silver Sneakers
by The Blitzkrieg Buffoon
Summary: A girl from Kansas is pulled into Oz. There she will meet new friends, allies, discover a secret about her family, and vanquish a threat that has left the citizens of Oz in terror.
1. Unappreciated

**I.. Can't... Stop.. . Wizard of Oz.. Fic... MUST.. AGHH. **

I bet once I get this out of my system I can finally get my X-fics up and back in order. But.. I can't help it.

Title: Straw Boys and Silver Sneakers.  
Summary: Presant day, October 2007. On a little farm in Kansas, a 15 year old girl is blown away into a Tornado and thrown into the world of Oz, where she tries to piece together it's past while helping her newfound friends find a Memory, a Soul, and Nerve, and she herself debates over whether she really wants to return home. Movieverse, mild bits of 'Wicked' the Play.  
Rating: T for teen.  
Author: A.Farrell

Once again, dear L.Frank Baum, I don't own your lovely creations.

For my sister, Erin. People without brains sure do an awful lot of talking, huh?

* * *

**October 20th, 2007  
Kansas  
**

* * *

"Erin! Erin! Did you get the chicken eggs, yet?"

A girl's head appeared from the hayloft.

"... No."

"I swear, Erin, your so lazy! If you don't get those eggs soon we'll have more chicks on our hands!"

"Sorry, Auntie Liz, I got preoccupied."

The elderly woman huffed and stormed out of the barn, and Erin jumped from the hayloft into a pile of hay on the barnfloor. A big black labrador's head appeared out of the straw beside her.

"Oh, there you are, Henri. Sorry if I landed on you, buddy." Henri whined.

Erin stumbled out of the straw, peering into the water trough before heading off. There was hay in her auburn hair, which she let lie, well brushed, across her shoulders. It almost seemed like she kept getting shorter, really, she was sure those pants hadn't wrinkled like that last time she'd worn them...

She slapped her thigh. "C'mon, Henri." The dog hurried after her towards the coop.

As Erin had indeed expected, the eggs were fine and indeed, quite warm to the touch, having it been a fairly warm day on the farm. A little unusual. Even more unusual for this season were the winds. But the biggest surprise she got was one of the farmhands, Ray. Ray was closest to her in age on the farm, at the ripe old age of twenty, he was still way too immature.

She waved, Henri running to hop on the man and lick his face. "Hah! Erin, get this mutt offa me!"

"Henri's no mutt, ya mutt. What are you doing?" She pulled Henri away, and the big floppy dog sat by her side.

"Workin', unlike some people, y'lazy bones." She frowned. "You guys just don't get it." "Ah we get it fine, Erin. Our heads aren't made of straw, y'know."  
"But I have been working, Ray! I've been making something for all you-"

"I gotta go Erin, sorry!" Ray yelped, checking his watch. He pelted off. "See ya!"

She stood forlornly, as the wind kicked up dust and blew her scarf about her head. The one person she wished would listen to her didn't have the time. Erin could tell already that this would be one craptastic day.

* * *

The other two farmhands weren't any more understanding then Ray. Bert said she should have more nerve, stand up for herself better. 

"Y'aren't gonna get anyplace by letting people walk all over ya," he'd said. "You gotta have the NERVE to say things."

"But I AM trying to say things, nobody's listening!" Bert just shook his head, and went on with the tractor through the cornfield. Erin had leapt off the wheel well and gone back to the house, where she met Jack chopping wood.

Jack was a kind man, his heart was nearly as big at the axe with which he chopped wood, maybe bigger. But he was no help either, no one would listen. All Jack said was that she just listen to her Aunt Liz and Uncle Max, and not cause trouble.

"Not cause trouble, hah! Ray causes more trouble on laundry day than I have my whole life." she slumped on the roof of the farmhouse, just against the old chimney. She could hear Henri down below, barking at something.

"Who am I kidding?" she mused aloud. "None of them notice me, i'm just the short kid they all live with." Maybe size was it. If she could find a way to grow six inches in the next ten minutes, well it would certainly help more than her stature of 4'10. She looked off into the distance, noticing a big Anvil shaped stormcloud on the horizon. She knew that meant something. She'd learned it in science class two years prior, but two years was a long time, and teenagers are notiorious for having short attention spans, so she couldn't quite recall. She crawled over to the edge of the roof and looked over, hair falling over her face as she peeked onto the porch, where Ray, Jack, and Bert were having a lemonade break.

"Guys? Guys, what do you remember from grade school science class?"

"Disecting frogs." Was Bert's succint reply.

"Gross." Was hers.

"Eh, I remember plenty, Erin, whats up?" Ray.

She paused. "Ok, y'know stormclouds are signs of stuff depending on what they look like and stuff, right?" Ray nodded."Well, what's it mean when they look like a big tower?"

Ray nodded. "Right, those can mean tornados, but thats not the most reliable way to know." Erin nodded. "But what if we DO have one?"

Jack shook his head. "Don't worry, Erin, if were gonna have a twister, the radio'll warn us. Now stop hanging off the roof, your head'll fall off."

"But what if-"

"Don't WORRY, Erin." Ray this time. "I'm not as stupid as I look, we'll be fine. Lets go, guys."

The three of them set off again. And Erin leaned back against the chimney. What was WITH them today? Criminy... If she got cut off once more today she'd go nuts.

"If he's so smart why didn't he stay in college and do something other than work on a farm..?" She scoffed. "I bet they wouldn't miss me if I left. Probably wouldn't even notice." Erin sighed deeply, glaring up at the Anvil-like cloud, as if perhaps, it's darkness was the source of all her frustration.

And then, the idea came to her. So utterly third grader and immature that it would work.

She'd run away.

* * *

She did feel pretty stupid, running away, blah. The very thought would shock her friends. In fact, she could hear them now.

_"Hah! You ran away from home? What are you, twelve?"_

So, she packed her school bag and slung it over one shoulder, grabbed Henri's leash, and the two left the farm, down the dirt road that had been there since before her grandmother.

She had only been walking about an hour when she decided to sit and contemplate if this was really the smartest thing to do. It was past supper, which meant the sun would be setting soon, which also meant night, and nighttime in October wasn't fun. PLUS she totally didn't intend to spend the night on the ground, she could get bitten by an animal, and she didn't want that. Though Henri would probably protect her, he was more useful as being a lazy companion then a defensive one, though.. She looked up at the sky, which had grown considerably darker since leaving. That massive cloud seemed even bigger, the wind had picked up too...

Yes, that was all the convincing Erin needed. "ALRIGHT, let's go Henri, we've missed dinner, Aunt Liz is probably pissed off even more. And I think i'll spend the night in the cellar." She hitched her backpack onto both shoulders, pulled off Henri's leash, and went running back down the road, towards home. Suddenly remembering why when she was twelve, she never did stay away from home when she ran off.

* * *

**First chapter, we meet Erin. Local disgruntled youth.  
She's actually quite pretty, with brown hair that's brushed back but left to hang like she doesn't care. And she doesn't. She has brown eyes, and freckles.  
She's a complete lazy-ass who's way too smart for her own good, and would rather she be in the 1930s than the 2000s. She's probably PMSing this chapter.  
She's also most likely being overly dramatic with her family right now.  
This has a different plot from the original Wizard of Oz, it's not just her learning a lesson. It's taking a bit of a darker twist in the way that she's a bitchy teenager who might just decide to stay in Oz. But, keeping with good wholesome family VHS tradition, Erin will learn a few lessons about life along the way. I've been having my own teenage woes as of late, and I really wanted to start a story that would let me vent out feelings, Erin is an impersonification of my sister, and my teenage pissiness as of late. **

... I should shut up now.

-Blitz 


	2. Storm Signs

**Plot device, HO! **

Title: Straw Boys and Silver Sneakers.  
Summary: Erin gets swept into Oz this chapter, her mood gets worse, and then improves when she meets Glinda the Good Witch. Glinda explains a few things to her, and she learns of a danger that plagues Oz. To find her way home, Glinda suggests she seek an audience with the King.  
Rating: T for Teen.  
Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Random Notes: In this chapter, Erin finds herself in Oz, and meets Glinda the Good Witch of the North. From personal experiance, Erin finds this woman appaling. Pink? My God woman look in a mirror. Redhead? Pink? Try again. (her words, not mine, I think you look lovely Glinda.) She also makes her way off down the Yellow Brick Road to find her way back home to Kansas.

RANDOM FACT- Bert, Ray, and Jack are the first names of the actors who played the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tinman in the 1939 version. (In that order.) Your probably already aware of this fact, but I felt you should all see the connection.

* * *

"Erin! Erriiin! Oh no, Max I can't find her!"

"We can't look for her now, Lizzie, it's a twister!"

"But she's out there all alone!"

Max grabbed his wife's shoulders. "Lizzie, y'know we can't go out there. We gotta get to the storm cellar."

"But Erin-" "She'll be ok. She's smart, she'll be hiding in the lowest place she can right now, don't worry. RAY! You get those horses out of that barn!"

"Yessir! Where's Erin?" Ray held onto his ballcap, stopping only a moment to listen for an answer. "We can't find her, but get those horses out, and get to the cellar! She'll be alright." For a moment, Ray froze in place, Erin? Not found? Out there? In a cyclone? Never, he would not allow it. But, he had to get the horses, so he pelted off into the barn, and was immediatly smacked in the face with a canvas board.

"Damnit! What the..." A horse whinnied frantically, but he stopped, looking down. A painting, the wind had knocked it from the hayloft. Erin had said she'd been working on something...

"RAY! What're you doing?!"

Ray shoved the board into Max's arms. "Take it to the cellar, i'll be there inna second!" Max was off, and Ray headed to the stalls to free the petrified animals.

_Erin was fine_, he thought, _in the lowest place she could be, no doubt, she was a smart kid. She was._

* * *

Erin's feet kicked up dust as she belted down the road. _Notgoodnotgoodnotgoodyou frickin' straw-for-brains idiot!  
_She was surprised Henri hadn't done anything to warn her of this, weren't animals supposed to be more weather sensitive or something? But he seemed just as scared as she was so there was no use scolded the dog now. Somehow, she was keeping pace with the animals's strides. Good news though, the farm was in sight, and she could hear the yells and screams of animals being let loose, and was that Ray running around? His long legs propelling him through the air like a funny, goateed ragdoll. Ah home, nothing like it when your being chased down by a massive tornado. 

"Uncle Max! Aunt Lizzie! Ray!"

But he couldn't hear her over the wind, he was hurriedly trying to open the gate for the animals to run into the pasture, and all around him wind whipped and animals pounded frantically about. Why was he trampled to dust already? And then a body was next to him.

"Jack!" The other man visibly sighed. "You kids, never gettin' anything done!" He shoved a crowbar into the jammed lock, and slammed down on it with his boot, the gate swung back, and the wind did the rest. Jack grabbed Ray's arm and pulled the stricken man towards the cellar door, where Max was trying to calm Liz down, beside the two of them, Bert appeared, looking winded.

"Anybody find, Erin?" He asked. They shook their heads. "Nothing. If that brat is stuck out in the storm..." Jack's voice faltered. The tornado was far closer than it had been a few minutes ago, in fact, it wasn't far away, and advancing quickly. Jack's eyes moved down the road, in the vague hope they'd see her.

He was exceptionally surprised to see a yellow, grey, and blue smudge, with a second black smudge ahead of that. Erin and Henri. The wind was blowing so much dust around it was tough to tell how far from the farm they were, but the three men ran to the little picket fence to help her. But the wind and dust and debris held them at bay, she was just outside the fence, but impossible to get to. It was everything they could do to not be blown away.

Erin, unlike the three men, had little body mass. At four foot ten and about a hundred pounds, it was no surprise when she jumped to catapult herself over the fence, the wind blew her, and Henri along with her, right into Ray, who'd tried to catch her. The three tumbled into the air, and Erin's head slammed into Ray's forehead.

The chaotic world went dark.

* * *

When Erin came to, she was in her bed, her blankets had fallen off in the night, but beside her was the warm fur of Henri. And her mattress was very soft, but the sheets were a bit mussed. Because her covers had fallen off she was a bit cold, as her room in the farmhouse had no insulation. She yawned, stretching a bit and rolling over to cuddle up with Henri, who whined worriedly. 

Her eyes popped open, and the first thing she noticed was that her ceiling was either invisible, or gone altogether. And she found that she was not, in fact, in her bed, and she had not, in fact, lost the covers on her bed. And in fact, she wasn't in her house at all.

She sat up. "What the heck...?"

She was in a little town. The houses were small and dainty, and the little grassy knoll where she'd woken up was situated near a little duck pond, that led off down the road, which was paved with yellow bricks. She rolled and stood up quickly, glancing around.

"Wha.. This wasn't... Henri?" She looked down at the dog, who made a noise between a groan and a whine of uncertainty.

"We are totally not in Kansas anymore." Henri barked in agreement, and somebody giggled. Or, a lot of somebodies giggled. "Whose there?" No answer.

"Hey! Come out of wherever your hiding, i've got a.." she glanced down at Henri, whose tail was wagging fervently. "Er.. I've got a violent attack dog here with me, and i'll sic 'em on ya and he'll sniff ya out and.. and... Whoa."

A bright pink bubble had appeared in the sky, and it dropped towards her. Erin was sure it would pop, but instead, when it burst, it brought forth a tall and beautiful woman, with an elegant pink gown and headpiece. She had the sudden urge to bow before this woman. But she didn't, because this was all a dream and she'd wake up at home, probably with a concussion from slamming her head into Ray's thick skull.

The woman eyed her dangerously, or, no, she was eyeing Henri.

"What are you doing with a Fury in Munchinkinland?" Erin cocked a brow.

"Fury? Thats my dog, Henri, he's a Labrador."

"Labrador? Well this is a mite puzzlesome. The Munchkins summoned me because they said a girl appeared with a Fury accompanying her. That would have been very serious." Erin shook her head, feeling very small and young all of a sudden. "No! But.. Who are the Munchkins? Whats a Fury? Where the heck am I?" She wasn't sure why she was so frantic, it was just a dream anyway, some warped up illusion her concussed head had thought up.

But it felt very real, and she felt very confused.

The woman looked her up and down, and smiled. "Well, in another case I would tell you to forget everything about a Fury, you'd be much safer that way. But as you seem to have fallen, like other before, from the world called Kansas, I see no harm."

"ALRIGHT! Thats it, i've had enough! I don't know where I am, theres a hot pink fairy babbling about Furies, which i'm sure are in Greek myth, and Munchkins, which I KNOW are a delicious treat from Dunkin' Donuts, but i'm also really sure you don't mean either of those so would you PLEASE, explain where the hell I am, and whats going on!"

The woman smiled sweetly, which enraged Erin all the more. Henri nudged her knee, calming her a bit.

"My dear, I am Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. And this is Munchkinland, in the world of Oz."

As if on cue, a myriad of tiny people, just perfect for the daint houses, appeared out of every crevasse imaginable. In between bushes, houses, out of chimeny's and from the ground. They were dressed in bright, colorful clothing, with little hats and shoes and multicolored hair.

"The Furies are a bit more difficult to understand, but if you'll come and sit with me for a moment, I will explain." A shiver ran through the crowd of Munchkins, and Glinda, who was feeling an oddly pleasant sense of Deja Vu, took Erin's hand and led her off a short ways down the Yellow Brick Road, to sit along the bank of the little creek.

"What is your name?"

"Erin. From Kansas, how did you know that, anyway?" Glinda chuckled.

"We've had one or two people from Kansas come here before." Erin paused, flicking a pebble into the creek. "So.. Please don't tell me all this is real." Glinda frowned. "Quite the contrary, this world is very real. As real as you or your Kansas."

Erin sighed. "It'd be easier to believe if I still believed in fairytales. But y'know, you hit thirteen and you tell somebody you want to go to Narnia, and they send to therapy and pump you full of Ritalin." Glinda didn't know what Ritalin was, but it sounded unpleasant, so she nodded, feigning understanding.

"Ok but... Say this place, really is real. I'm gonna go ahead and go along with it, believe it, God knows I want to. What are these Furies?"

Glinda's features grew dark. She waved her star-tipped wand over a section of the creek, and it darkened, showing the image of a dark creature, shadow-like in appearance, horned and on all fours. It looked like a Hellhound, with glittery ebony fangs and scarlet eyes. She could see the minor resemblance of the creatures and Henri. Glinda began to talk.

"About a year ago, the Furies began showing up all across Oz. They started in the Haunted Woods, and spread across the Winkie kingdom, all the way to Emerald City. And the only thing protecting Emerald City right now, are the Ruby Slippers."

She waved her wand again, and a pair of Red, heeled shoes appeared, glinting and gleaming in the ripples.

"Their power keeps the Furies and their master at bay." Erin nodded. "Whose their master?" Glinda shook her elegant head. "No one knows. But his heart is so dark that he was able to create these beasts, who posess the people they bite." The images in the water now showed several human shaped Furies, all dark and red-eyed and fanged. "It's very dangerous outside city limits, because that is the Fury domain now."

Henri barked and snapped at the image in the water, dissapating it into ripples. Erin stroked Henri's dark fur.  
"I see why they thought Henri was one, but he isn't. He's just a lazy old dog."

Glinda laughed. "He seems like a lovely creature." Henri's tail went wild. "Heh, alright so... This place is real then, i'll go ahead and believe it, no matter how stupid I feel. How do I get back home?"

Glenda thought for a moment, thinking. Then she smiled broadly. "I have just the idea." She stood, and held out her hands to pull Erin up. "But you'll have to go to the Emerald City, and seek an audience with the King of Oz. He'll know what to do for you."

"Alright, the King of Oz." If this King was anything like the President, she was screwed. "And how do I get to Emerald City?"

Glinda's smille seemed to widen.

"Why, you take the Yellow Brick Road."

"The Yellow Brick Road." Erin turned to look down said road, and when she turned around again, Glinda was gone.

"The Yellow Brick Road..." She murmured, and voices began to serenade her as she began to walk.

"Follow the Yellow Brick Road!" They all sang, the Munchkins. Erin laughed and broke out into a run, and as she sprinted off, the voices growing father away, she called to Henri, at his spot a few feet ahead of her.

"Stuff sure happens fast in this place, huh Henri?"

He barked.

* * *

**Erin isn't always a jerk. She has a good heart, she just forgets how to use it sometimes.**

**-Blitz  
**


	3. Scrow

**Next chapter. **

Title: Straw Boys and Silver Sneakers.  
Summary: Erin's been walking down the Yellow Brick road for a day and a half. She wakes up to a cloudy day, and then rain. She seeks shelter in a cornfield, and meets a Scarecrow boy with short term memory, who decides to join her on her Journey to the Emerald city, in the hopes of gaining a memory. The two new friends also come across a group of Furies, and the Scarecrow boy isn't as stupid as he may think he is.  
Rating: T for teen.  
Author: A.Farrell

Erin, while in a better mood than the first two chapters, is miffed with the rain.

From here on out it's first person point of view, unless I switch back to Omnicient.

* * *

I pulled my hood over my head, looking up at the dark sky. "You'd think a bright place like this wouldn't get rain, huh Henri?" Henri huffed. I kept moving down the road, and the scenery changed from large plains to farmland. But now I was surrounded by corn on all sides.

And then the intersection appeared. I groaned.

"Great. Glinda didn't mention which WAY to go.. Cripes.." Henri stretched, and trotted over to a tree on the other side of the fence. A few feet away was a scarecrow, tightly tied to a cross pole. I followed him, sitting down under the tree, and while it didn't solve my problem, it kept the rain at bay.

That morning I had finally let myself believe that this whole thing was real. I'd gone to sleep the night before, expecting to wake up in my own bed, safe and sound. But no, i'd woken up in the same spot i'd gone to sleep in, a patch of unbelievably soft moss just off the Yellow Brick Road. My theory on getting here was simple. The tornado must have picked me and Henri up, and thrown us into a different place. Maybe it was another dimension completely, I don't know. Glinda had said one or two other people from Kansas had been here. HAD been here. That must mean there was a way back home. There had to be.

"I mean..." I said outloud. "There has to be, right, Henri?" He looked up at me, cocking his head. "Right.. Theres gotta be.. We just need to find which road to take.." I stood and peered around the intersecting road. "It'd be easier if there was a sign..."

"You could go either way, y'know, they all go to the same place. I think..."

I whipped around. "Who said that?!"

"Said what?"

I turned towards the Scarecrow, who didn't move. But it had sure sounded like the voice had... Henri stood up and went towards the scarecrow, growling. Henri barked, and the scarecrow struggled against his bindings, trying to kick out at-

"Holy crap!"

"Get this thing away from me! Help! Help!" I grabbed Henri's collar, pulling him away. "Jesus! Are you ok?" The scarecrow stopped struggling.

"Who me?" I stared. "No, the other talking scarecrow!" The strawman looked around.

"What other scarecrow?" I gaped. "Are you, ok? Did you hit your head on something?" The scarecrow paused, then shook his head. "No, my name is Scrow. Whats yours?"

"Erin... Uh.. Do you know how to get to Emerald City?"

"Emerald city? Oh, well you could go either way, y'know, they all go to the same place. I think..." He paused. "Oh hi, i'm Scrow, whats your name?"

"Yeah, you told me already. I'm Erin." Scrow frowned, his stitched mouth turning down.

"Oh.. I'm a complete fool..."

_He must have a really bad memory_, I thought. But I didn't want to make him feel bad by stating the obvious. "Oh, no your not. I mean. Look, your a scarecrow, you'd have to be pretty smart to scare all those crows."

"OH! Thats just it! When the farmer who made me told me how to scare crows, I forgot! I'm a failure 'cause i've got no memory. The scarecrow that was here before me was great! Wise and brilliant, so much so that he went and became the King of all Oz! I'd give anything to be like him..."

That seemed rather fateful, it did.

"Well, y'know." I walked up closer to him, moving aside stalks of corn to get near him. "I'm on my way to Emerald City to see the King, so I can find a way home. Why don't you come with me?" His burlap face lit up. "You'd bring me with you? You'd really do that?"

I nodded. He was a funny fellow, but it'd be nice to have some company with me aside from Henri, who couldn't even talk. I looked Scrow over, a burlap sack made up his round head, and he had a big flopped sunhat on, which a big black crow perched upon. He was lanky and thin, made up of stitchings and rope and hay and all other scarecrow-y things. Hay stuck out of his joints and tears in the green tunic he wore, and his brown cloth pants were patched up in places. His feet were straw stuffed boots.

"Well sure, you can come with me! We just have to get you down." He nodded. "You can cut me down with the scythe behind me, the farmer gave it to me, but I can't use it stuck up here." I looked behind him. Sure enough, there was the long two-handed scythe, ready for harvesting and whatnot.

I grasped it up, it was slippery from the rain, but I managed to slice off his restraints. Scrow fell flat on his face in the wet dirt.

"Oh, sorry, you alright?"

"Fine fine! Wow it feels good to stretch out my legs!" He leapt up, and immediately tripped over the fence. "Haha! Guess i'm not so good at this walking thing, huh?"

I couldn't help laughing at him, but I think he took as laughing with him. I'd never seen anybody so open with his faults before, it was refreshing. I helped him up.

"Don't worry, i'll keep you standing." He grinned, taking the scythe from me. "Hah, thanks, I think i'll need the help, Erin."

"Hey, you remembered my name!" He blinked. "I did! What do you know! Shall we go?" I nodded, grinning. Henri barked happily. He took my elbow in his and started to skip, I hurried to get in step, not expecting the skipping. Henri went shortly ahead, just like always.

"Hey, Erin?"

"Yeah, Scrow?"

"Where are we going again?

"Haha! Emerald City!"

"Oh, well thats down the other path!"

"Haha!"

* * *

We stopped to rest for the night at a little house that we found in the woods. It was a tiny cottage, with loads of chopped trees around it and bundles of firewood everywhere. The roof was covered in moss, and vines twisted around the door and windows. Frankly, it appeared as if whatever person that had at one point lived there, didn't anymore. The lock mechanism inside the door handle was rusted up completely, and it took a lot of kicking and shoving to get the door open. When it finally opened, Henri ran inside and shook himself to get rid of the rainwater. 

The inside was dusty, and I immediately broke out into a massive sneezing fit. They came on so quick that Scrow must have thought I was choking, because he started hitting my back to get me to breathe.

"I'm-i'm ok! I-i am! A-a-ATCHOO!" This final sneeze was so forceful I fell flat on my butt.

"You ok, Erin?" I nodded, sniffing, then hacking and spitting out a wad of phlegm. "Euch..." I could barely open my eyes. "I hade sneezing fids."

Scrow looked rather worried. "Your not allergic to.. to straw are ya?" I laughed, shaking my head. "Nah, id's tha dust." He laughed with me. Over in the corner, Henri sniffed and then sneezed.

* * *

Outside however, in the still growing rainstorm, shadowy hounds gathered around the cottage.

They sent silent messages to each other, with tiny shuffling noises and body movement. The eyes-oh the terribled red eyes-glowed fiery in the darkening night.

And they in their fury crept upon the house, and slipped through the cracks.

And waited.

* * *

I woke up to thunder. I mean, thunder wasn't what woke me up, but thats what I heard when I was coherent. What woke me up was Henri. Growling. 

Henri growled and made funny noises a lot. He talked, really. The sounds he made seemed human, a lot of the time. But this was pure anger, fear, defense. I groped in the dark, finding Henri's fur, but not Scrow's stuffed arm.

"Henri?" I hissed. "Scrow?"

"Shhh. They're in here."

"Who?"

"Shh!"

And then I heard it, it was a weird, sickening, choking growl, like a wolf trying to growl underwater. And it was a lot of them, I couldn't tell how many. Then the lightening went off, and I saw, for a brief moment, a frightening scene.

Scrow stood posed above me, the scythe in his hand, at his feet was Henri, growling like i'd never heard him before. And surrounding us were, in the second I saw them, an uncountable amount of wicked looking dogs. The Furies, they were worse in real life, not just the picture Glinda had showed me. The size of wolves, and covered in coarse black fur.

When the lightening subsided, the first one struck, and the others followed suit. I curled myself into a little ball, and above me I heard Scrow say something about 'protecting you', and I didn't realise he meant me. I heard slashing, snarling, biting and all kinds of awful noises. And then a horrible thought came to me.

"Henri!" What if Henri got posessed? I tried to find him in the mess, if I lost my dog... If I lost Henri...

"Erin!"

"Scrow! Where's Henri?" A hit of the scythe, something stopped growling. "Henri! HENRI!" A bark from the far side of the room, and the sound of padded feet.

"Come here boy!" Scrow yelped. "My leg!" Thunder.

"Scrow!" I felt around, searching for anything, anything to defend us. The lightening flashed, and I managed to grab ahold of a long stretch of smooth wood. I felt Henri beside me, warding off the Furies.

"My leg! It's got my leg!"

The lightening went off again, accompanied by a crack of thunder. And there, I saw it's eyes. Horizontal, staring into my own, biting deep into Scrow's leg, the scythe swishing at other Furies, trying to defend ME. Why ME? The Fury on Scrow's leg was massive, bigger than the others. I swung the length of wood around, and it cracked against the beast's skull. It's eyes faltered, let go of Scrow, who fell to the ground, and then the growling stopped.

"Scrow?"

Silence, then..

"Y-yeah?"

"A-are you ok?"

"I.. I think so.. You, and Henri?" I gulped, running my hands over Henri, trying to find any places where he could have been bitten. But I didn't find anything.

"Were fine.. Fine.."

We couldn't talk, it was so dark I couldn't even see Scrow's face, except for the occasional flash of lightening. But something was bugging me.

"S-Scrow?"

"Yes?"

"Are.. Are you.. You?"

"Yeah.. They can't get me.. I'm not real like you, or Henri." That eased my mind, and for the remainder of the night, I was able to wait calmly for morning. But we didn't sleep, and Henri sat by the door, on gaurd.

* * *

I managed to half-doze until morning when the rain stopped. And even then, fear of getting caught unaware by the Furies kept me awake most of the time. At least Scrow hadn't forgotten what happened, it too seemed burned into his head. Then, of course, I got a little antsy. 

"JESUS H. CHRIST!"

Well.. Maybe more than a little.

"THAT.. Those, they! AGH!"

Scrow nodded, fear created more wrinkles on his burlap face. "I was thinking the same thing." I calmed myself down a bit, and sat myself down at the little table in the cottage, compulsively cracking my knuckles. "Ok... Question here... Why did they all leave when I cracked the big guy on the head?" My weapon from the night before had turned out to be a huge club that someone had carved from hard Oak. I'd made the decision very quickly to take it with me when we left. Scrow stood, and went rummaging through the cabinets.

"Welll... I think those things travel in packs." I looked up. "Huh?" "Yeah... I can't really remember, y'know. S'all a little fuzzy." He swirled his straw finger around his head. "But I think I heard once that they travel in packs, and the big guy might have been in charge." He located a needle and some string and sat down opposite me, beginning to sew up the huge tear in his leg.

"Why would the the leader of 'em go after us?" Scrow shrugged. "Beats me, put your finger here a second." I complied, and he tied off the now repaired leg.

"Hm.. We should get out of here quick, there might be more around."

* * *

**I am... unbelievably pleased with this chapter. Particularly the bit where the Furies enter the cottage. I don't know why, but the idea of solid animals squeezing through cracks of houses to get at people is very creepy. **

Furies are fucked uuuup.

-Blitz 


	4. Ironman

**I cannot stop. O.O I HAVE BEEN OVERTAKEN. **

Title: Straw Boys and Silver Sneakers  
Summary: After the massive scare from the night before, Erin and Scrow decide it's time to move out. They get some breakfast and meet up with a disassembled Iron man named Ronald Blade, who lacks a soul. Erin invites the jumbled suit of armor along to the Emerald City, where he's sure to gain his missing piece.  
Rating: T for teen.  
Author: A. Farrell

Erin speaks Spanish. I hate the language, but I wish I could speak it. Weird.

Also, I think Erin has redeemed herself of being a total bitch in this chapter.

* * *

**Third Person POV

* * *

**  
"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn't have to wait so long, and wouldn't it be nice to live together, in the kind of world that we'd belong..."

Erin wiggled jauntily as she collected apples from the ground. The Beach Boys were a guilt pleasure that she just couldn't resist, and 'Wouldn't it be Nice' was her all time favorite. It was 'muy fantastico', if you were her Spanish 1 teacher. She continued humming, while some yards away, Scrow was playing with Henri, throwing an already bitten to pieces apple off into the distance for the dog to catch.

Erin hummed along, the tun playing in her head, but then she paused, song halting in her throat.

_Is that... A voice? _

"Por que?" She mumbled, then rolled her eyes at herself and said louder. "Is somebody out there?" She tucked the apples she'd picked up into her sweatshirt pocket and pushed through the underbrush of the forest, warily, however, the night before still fresh in her mind. 

"Hello?"

There was a moment of silence.. Then..

_CLANG!_  
"I'm here! Here! You there, in the yellow shirt! Please help me!"

Erin shoved through a prickly bush and into a mild clearing, in the center was a pair of legs... and a head! No, a helm? She inched closer, reached down and picked it up, dropped it from the weight, and then lugged it up again. It was huge! And made of wraught iron, composing of a comb, helm, visor, and a gorget. The visor wiggled in place and clanged about.

"Oh my i'm so glad somebody's found me! I thought i'd be laying there for ever! Please, please find the rest of me and put me together!"

"Uh, alright. SCROW! C'mere! I found some, er.. Somebody!"

There was a moment of pause, then Scrow called back. "Wait.. Repeat that, will ya?"

* * *

The suit of armor's name was Ronald Blade. Named so for his left gauntlet, which, instead of ending in a chainmail hand like the other one, was comprised of a huge axe. He was, in fact, an entirely wraught iron suit of armor, he was made up of every single bit from the medievil times, all the way from his pauldrons, down to his saboton.

According to Ronald, he'd been given life from a magic powder, but had no soul.

"It really has been quite difficult, I can't feel anything, no emotion, nothing at all." He stood before them, now fully back together. Erin frowned.

"Thats awful.. No soul..." Scrow's face went blank for a moment. "How did you get all to pieces?" Ronald's face made no movement, but he did slump a little. "Those damn Furies! They jumped me while I was chopping down a tree, pulled all my pieces off and left me there about a month ago."

"Yeah.. We had a run in with them last night." Ronald nodded. "Oh yes, I heard. Noisy creatures, more of just a nuisance to me than anything else, but somebody like you should be awful careful." He pointed to Erin with his axehand. "Somebody flesh and blood like you, shouldn't be wandering alone." Erin smiled. "I'm not alone, i've got Scrow and Henri."

Said animal barked proudly.

"But..." she tapped her chin. "You should come with us, Scrow and I, were going to see the King of Oz, to get him a memory, and me a way home. I'm sure if he can do those things, he can get you a soul." Ronald's visor flipped all the way up.

"You think so?"

She nodded. "Sure! Glinda the Good Witch said so."

"You've met Glinda? THE Glinda?" She nodded. "Well then! If Glinda believes so, then certainly i'll come along!"

"Alright then, we were gonna head out now, are you two ready?"

"Of course." Scrow nodded.

They began to walk down the road, and Erin munched an apple.

"Y'know, you guys, it's funny. It feels like i've met you both before. Like deja vu." Scrow frowned. "But you couldn't have, you weren't around when the farmer strung me up on the pole." "Or when I was brought to life." Piped Richard."Yeah... But whatever, we've met now, and thats all that matters. To Oz?"

"To Oz!"

* * *

Far away, however, in a castle located in a forest in the land of the Winkies, a man was seated in a tall granite throne. All around him shadows moved, undulating tirelessly.

The man was tall and dark, with slick backed hair and unnatural, pale blue eyes. His entire being screamed 'precisely', as his suit was clean and pressed, and everything around him was straight and unmarred by weathering. The only curved structure in the whole throneroom was a crystal ball, huge and standing on a pedestal beside him. He watched Erin, Henri, and her two new friends, S. Crow and the Ironman. He inspected Erin very closely, etching an image of her in his mind. Matching it.

The shape of her face, that imperious arch of her nose, eyes, hair color. No doubt, yes, no doubt at all.

His voice bubbled up from his position, wicked, biting, and dripping with venom.

"Vivo... Why don't you pay young Erin a little visit, i'm sure you'd love revenge for your brother's grim defeat."

From the shadows a large man melted into being. Red-eyed, tall and dark; Vivo, this man's right hand beast.

A growl came from the very bowels of the man's throat. Inhuman, this is a posessed man of Oz, no longer in his own control, a Fury rules him now. _Yes, my lord,_ it said._ It would be my pleasure, my lord._ On it's feet were dull grey shoes, torn and ripped and shabby looking. So filthy and disheveled, that his master would never understand what they were.

With a howl, it disappeared into the night.

* * *

After several nights spent around a campfire, Richard was quite the woodsman, and days spent walking and talking, and munching on apples, the three, no four if you counted the dog, companions were just about ready to sit down and take a day of rest.

Erin landed on her butt on the side of the Yellow Brick Road. "My feet... are.. killing.. me! Lets sit down for a while." She laid back, sighing deeply. Scrow and Richard joined her side.

"Man... If I didn't want to get home so bad, I could get used to this place."

"Whats it like in Kansas, Erin?" Scrow stuffed a bit of loose hay on his hand back into place. She thought. "Well... It's quiet, at least where i'm from. Theres a lot of open space, and grass. Cornfields and farms. The weather can change any time, and we get a lot of Tornados, more than anywhere else."

"Whats a Tornado?" Richard.

"It's a big gust of wind, when it touches the ground it can cause a lot of damage. The wind and dust make a huge vortex that is so strong, it can even pick up houses. I think a Tornado is how I got here..." She tapped her chin. "Weird..."

There was a pause, and then Erin turned to her straw friend. "Hey, Scrow?"

"Mmmhmm?"

"Where'd you get the name Scrow?"

He paused, trying to remember. "Oh, right. It's on my shirt!" He pulled his collar inside out and showed her one frayed edge, there, sewn into the fabric was a name.

_S. Crow_

"Huh... Scrow, that doesn't say 'Scrow', it says S.Crow. The 'Crow' is a last name, and the 'S' is an abbreviation for a first name."

Scrow peered at the lettering. "Huh. Oh, I see it now. It's all faded... Wonder what the 'S' stands for." Richard nodded. "I'm sure once you get your memory you'll-What's that sound?"

"What sound?"

"That, listen..."

They went quiet, ears straining to hear any noise at all. And then it grew louder, a rustle.

Shadows began to lengthen, then grow, they expanded and lifted right off the ground. Henri began to bark, Erin, Richard, and Scrow jumped up.

"Furies?"

"Furies."

Erin pulled out the large club she'd taken from the cottage, and Scrow unstrapped the Scythe from his back. But no one made any moves to attack the creatures, because one was still forming, one was more complex, one looked human. And when it had finished coming up from the ground, it spoke.

_"Curiosity killed the cat, Erin. Your getting yourself into something your going to wish you hadn't."_

Erin's eyes widened, large as golfballs. "W-what? I haven't done anything." The man that wasn't a man's face split into a terrible smile.

_"Not yet. But you won't live long enough to do anything. You'll die long before anything can happen."_

Both Richard and Scrow took a few steps ahead of Erin.

"You'll have to get through us first!" Was Richard's reply to the beast.

"Yeah!"

The two charged, and Henri leapt at a Fury that had advanced on Erin, who stood silent, stuck in a half-crouch, staring at the fight that had begun.

_They're fighting.._ She thought._ Fighting.. for.. ME. Nobody's ever.. been so nice to me. I've got to help them!_ She watched as the man tore off Scrow's right arm, and fling it across the road. Scrow leapt to the side to pick his Scythe back up, and the tall shadowman turned to Richard.

_"Come now, you two, surely you don't really mean to fight for this pitiful excuse of a human."_

"Of course we do!" "She's our friend!" "Rrrruff!"

A group of the doglike Furies surrounded Erin, and she held up her club. "Come get me, you slimy freaks! I'm ready for you!" And they charged, and Erin ran at them, striking out with her club. She got a few bonecrushing blows to they're skulls, and several fell, she felt teeth gnash at her body, and her yellow sweatshirt was getting more holes in it then it previously had. But she made her way to Scrow and Richard, the former still scrabbling on the ground, looking for his scythe, and having pieces of him torn out. Richard was cornered against a tree by the big Fury, his axehand on the ground some feet away, and Henri was down the road someway, keeping Furies at bay.

She had to help them, but how? She couldn't possibly be in three places at once. It all seemed very hopeless, she had to think, there had to be something... And then it hit her, a memory coming back, the answer, right there.

_"But I think I heard once they travel in packs, and the big guy might have been in charge."_

Get rid of the big guy, get rid of the whole pack.

She charged.

"HEY! Barf-breath!" The man turned, and Erin's club came down with a horrid crunch onto his forehead. A scream rocked her vision, and the man faded, right into the air, leaving nothing behind but a pair of glittering silver sneakers. With the man, the other Furies went with him, and Erin fell to her knees, shaking.

"Ok... Next time we get attacked, I say we run away!"

* * *

That night, around the campfire, Erin sat with Scrow across her knees, sewing his torso back up, Scrow himself, however, was in deep rant.

"Okok, y'know how I told you two the other day that my only fear was fire? I lied, fire I can handle, fire doesn't dismantle you bit by bit, it just eats you. Furies? Furies?! I could live without Furies. In fact, I could THRIVE without Furies. I hope whoever created those things has something very bad happen to them! Like having to listen to the Lollypop Guild sing after one too many at the pub, that's cruel AND unusual punishment-"

And so it continued like that for some time, and Erin and Richard and Henri were content to sit in the silence of night and listen to they're floppy friend, the fire crackling in the background. But then Richard picked up the silver shoes and inspected them.

"Hm... I believe I know what these are."

"Really?" Erin asked, tying off Scrow's arm.

"Yes... They look like the Silver Shoes of Oz Lore." "Oz Lore?" "Yes... There are several tales of the Silver Shoes, apparently they give the wearer four wishes. I didn't think they were real, of course."

"Well we cant wear them," Scrow said, indicating his straw feet and Richard's iron boots. "You should put 'em on, Erin." She shrugged. "I dunno. Four wishes? Why four?" Richard let out a creaking laugh. "Why, one for every lace, of course." He handed them to her, and she laughed, kicking off her old, rather worn out now, sneakers, and replacing them with the silver ones. She automatically felt a fluttery feeling in her stomach, and she smiled. "Weird... The outside feels like solid silver, but when you put 'em on, it's like you've got pillows on your feet!"

Erin finished with Scrow's left leg, and the two of them stood. Scrow to check out his repairs, and Erin to check out the shoes. As she walked they made a little clicking noise, like they had heels and they glittered cheerfully, like dew after a summer rain.

She paused, then laughed.

"I don't think my feet are gonna hurt anymore with these!" 


End file.
